Buckle.



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UNITED 4 STATES 'PATENT s OFFICE.:

.IAMES E. MITCHELL, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF THREE- FOURTHS TO GEORGE B. MEVIS, GEORGE F. STILES, AND CHARLES FREDERICKS, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 706,080, dated 'August 5, 1902.

Application filed Mai-oh 19, 1901. Serial No. 51,821. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, JAMES E. MITCHELL, a

citizen of the United States, residing in'Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Common 5 wealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Buckles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to buckles; and it consists in the devices and combinations herero inafter described and claimed.

' This buckle comprises a rim'or frame, a slide or binder, between which and the front bar of said rim the belt or strap is held, said slide being guided in saidvframe andcrowded I 5 toward said front'bar by spring-pressure, and a keeper to receive the unattached endvof the belt or strap.

This buckle is easily operated, closing automatically upon the strap and opening read- 2o ily when the sliding binder iswithdrawn by the finger from the front bar of the frame.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis an isometric perspective view of my improved buckle attached to one strap end and engag-A z 5 ing another strap end; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section of said buckle attached on the line 2 2 in Fig. 4 and of the strap ends in the same plane; Fig. 3, a similar section of the buckle detached; Fig. 4, a plan of the 3o buckle; Fig. 5, a plan of the buckle inverted; Fig. 6, a vertical transverse section of said buckle on the line 6 6 in Fig. 2; Fig. 7, a planv of the bottom of the frame as it appears be-- fore the guides are inserted; Fig. 8, a vertical cross-section of the sameon the line 8 8 in Fig. 7.

The rim or frame A has a chape or rear bar a, a front bar a', and sides a a4, connecting said bars in substantially the usual manner.

4o Within the frame Ais suitably guided a sliding binder B, represented as arectangle and 'for lightness made in theform of a skeleton.

The adjacent faces ofthe front frame-bar a and of the binder B aremade transversely parallel to press equally throughout the Ywidth of the strap E upon that portion of said strap which in use is arranged between said faces, and the front of said binder is preferably provided with a nose b, which 5o slides over a ledge a2 on the inner side of said 'by means of the recesses a au.

front frame-bar when the strap is not between these parts and in use causes the strap Vto beheld'irmly between the adjacent edges of said nose and ledge. The under side of the front. frame-bar a is preferably beveled upwardly and inwardly on the under side at a6 to prevent the strap from projecting from the back of the buckle or forming a bunch against the body of the wearer.

The guides for the binder B are represented 6o as two parallel wires C C, the ends of which are secured in'the back and front frame-bars a a and in abutments a5 a5, cast or otherwise formed on the innerfacesof the side framebars 0,4 a4, whichabutments may obviously be continued to meet each other, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 4 and 5, and thus form a continuousbar connecting and stiening said sidebars. Theguide-wires C C may also be extended, as shown, to meet or pass through 7o the rear frame-bar a., andthis will conveniently be done if said wires are to be inserted through holes formed in said rear bar. I prefer, however, to cast notches or recesses a", Figs. 7 and S, in the under side of the abut- 75 ments a4 a4 and other recesses a9 a9 in the front frame-bar c', in which the guide-wires may be laid and in .which guide-wires may be retained by hammering or pressing in over said wires the sides as 0,10 of said recesses insaid 8o abutments and front bar, respectively.' Iny 'a similar manner the rear ends of said wires C C may be secured in the chape or rear bar Thesides of the binder B aregrooved at b2 to receive 8 5 andrun von said guide-wires, and springs,

represented as helicalwire springs D D surrounding said guide-wires, are compressed between said binder andthe abutments a4 a4 to force said binder toward the frontframe- 9o bar a and grasp the strap. When the guidewires are secured in the recesses, (shown in Figs. 7 and 8 and above described,) the springs and the binder must beput in place before the guide-wires are secured in their recesses.

In practice one end e of a strap E is passed around the chape or rear frame-bar ct and secured in any usual manner, and the other end e of said strap or an end of another similar strap is passed between the binder B and the roo front frame bar, the binder being ldrawn away from said front bar by the fingers inserted in said binder, and the last-named end of the strap is passed under the keeper a3, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

The forward edge of the front bar of the binder-plate is thinnedas is also the rear edge of the front bar of the main frame, by inner bevels of such bars, which, in connection with the fact that such edges are adapted to overlap or slide upon one another, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, effects a secure engagement with or lock of the strap to prevent slippage thereof. The skeleton-form binder-plate lies entirely Within the plane of the main frame of the buckle, being thereby prevented from injury or displacement, this feature being especially valuable in the case of a trunk-strap. Also the skeleton form of the binder-plate admits of the insertion ot a uger for convenient operation thereof. My binder-plate has no parts projecting beyond the plane of the buckle for operation thereof or other purpose and which are likely to catch upon clothing, get out of order, destroy the simplicity of the device, and increase its cost of manufacture. The guide rods or wires and their springs lie close to the side bars of the buckle-frame, being partly hidden and protected thereby. The binderplate has a central opening wherein the iin-V ger is adapted to be inserted for operation of said plate.

convenient operation, and the compressionsprings between main frame and binderplate, and surrounding said guide-rods, suhstantially as specied.

2. In a buckle, the main frame having the bracing cross-bar or keeper at the outside, the guide rods or wires adjacent to the side bars of the frame, the skeleton-form binderplate engaging said guide-rods, and lying entirely within the plane of the buckle, the compression-springs between main frame and binder-plate, and surrounding said guiderods, the front bars of binder plate and buckle-frame being adapted to slide upon one another and the forward edge of the front bar of the binder-plate, and the rear edge of the front bar of the main frame, beingthinned for better locking eiect, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES E. MITCHELL. Witnesses:

SUSIE M. HANNAFORD, ALBERT M. MOORE. 

